U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Bureau of Justice Statistics
-------------------------------------------------------
This report is one in a series. More recent editions
may be available. To view a list of all reports in the
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This file is text only without graphics and many of the
tables. A Zip archive of the tables in this report in
spreadsheet format (.csv) and the full report including
tables and graphics in .pdf format are available on BJS
website at:http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=4757
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Statistical Tables
*******************
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000-2011 -
Statistical Tables
Margaret E. Noonan, BJS Statistician
In 2011, 4,238 inmates died while in the custody of local
jails or state prisons, an increase of 2% or 88 deaths from
2010. A total of 885 deaths (21%) occurred in local jails.
Overall, jails reported 33 fewer deaths in 2011 than in
2010. Heart disease and suicide continued to be the two
leading causes of death in local jails, accounting for more
than half (61%) of all jail deaths in 2011. The mortality
rate in jails (122 deaths per 100,000 inmates) declined 2%
from 2010 to 2011, continuing a general decline in mortality
rates that was first observed in 2008. Heart disease and
suicide mortality rates remained relatively stable between
2010 and 2011.
Over the 12-year period between 2000 and 2011, suicide
accounted for an annual average of 41 deaths per 100,000
jail inmates, while heart disease accounted for 31 deaths
per 100,000. To account for single-year fluctuations that
are common in mortality data, 3-year moving averages were
calculated for selected causes of death in jails and
prisons. Figures display the most recent year for trend
estimates based on 3-year moving averages centered on the
middle year. For example, estimates reported for 2010
represent the average estimates from 2009 through 2011. The
3-year moving average for heart disease remained relatively
stable, varying between 27 and 34 deaths per 100,000 jail
inmates (figure 1). For suicide, the rate varied between 34
and 48 deaths per 100,000 inmates. (See Methodology for more
information on moving averages.)
The majority of jails (81%) reported zero deaths in 2011,
which was consistent with an annual average of 82% of jails
reporting zero deaths between 2000 and 2011. Approximately
13% of jails reported a single death, and 6% of jails
reported two or more deaths in 2011.
In 2011, deaths in prisons (3,353 deaths) accounted for
approximately 80% of all deaths in local jails and state
prisons. Deaths in state prisons increased by 121 from 2010
to 2011, which accounted for the overall net increase of
inmate deaths in local jails and state prisons. Cancer and
heart disease were the two leading causes of death in state
prisons in 2011, accounting for more than half (56%) of
deaths in state prisons.
Mortality rates in state prisons have been nearly stable
since 2001. The mortality rate for both cancer and heart
disease was 65 deaths per 100,000 prisoners between 2001 and
2011. Among prisoners, the 3-year moving average mortality
rate for heart disease remained relatively constant from
2002 to 2010, while the 3-year moving average mortality rate
for cancer began to increase in 2008 (figure 2).
The data in this report were developed from the Bureau of
Justice Statistics’ (BJS) Deaths in Custody Reporting
Program (DCRP), an annual data collection about inmate
deaths in local jails and state prisons. The program began
collecting data from jails in 2000 and from prisons in 2001.
This report covers deaths in custody occurring in local
jails and state prisons between 2000 and 2011. Statistical
tables provide information about the causes and
circumstances of local jail and state prison inmate deaths
and present trends by cause of death, selected decedent
characteristics, and mortality rates for jails and prisons
inmates by states.
**************************
Mortality in local jails
**************************
Cause of death
***************
* The number of deaths in local jails decreased from 918
deaths in 2010 to 885 deaths in 2011 (table 1).
* Heart disease accounted for about a quarter (26%) of
deaths in local jails in 2011 (table 2).
* After an initial decline in 2008, the mortality rate for
jail inmates has remained relatively unchanged (125 deaths
per 100,000 inmates in 2010 and 122 per 100,000 in 2011).
Likewise, the mortality rate showed little variation from
2000 to 2007, increasing or decreasing between 1% and 3%
(table 3).
* The illness-related mortality rate decreased approximately
10% between 2010 and 2011, driven by a 50% decrease in the
AIDS-related mortality rate.
* The suicide rate in local jails declined over time, from
49 suicide deaths per 100,000 inmates in 2001 to 36 per
100,000 in 2007. Excluding 2008 data, the rate increased 18%
from 2007 to reach 43 suicides per 100,000 inmates in 2011.
(See Methodology for more information about 2008 data.)
Decedent characteristics
*************************
* Males accounted for nearly 9 in 10 (87%) deaths in local
jails in 2011. Whites accounted for more than half (59%) of
local jail deaths in the same year (table 5).
* Males and females died at nearly equal rates in local
jails in 2011 (table 6).
* The mortality rate for black inmates (89 per 100,000) in
2011 was the lowest observed mortality rate among black
inmates since the DCRP began collecting data in 2000.
* Consistently each year since 2000, the jail mortality rate
increased with inmates’ age. In 2011, jail inmates age 55
and older died at a rate (650 deaths per 100,000) that was
about three times the rate for younger inmates.
* In 2011, more than a third (39%) of deaths occurred within
the first week of admission to the jail facility.
* Between 2000 and 2011, about half of suicides (48%) and a
third (32%) of heart disease deaths occurred within the
first week of admission. More than a fifth of AIDS-related
deaths (22%) and more than a third of cancer deaths (38%)
occurred after 6 months of admission (table 7).
* Between 2000 and 2011, male jail inmates were 1.6 times
more likely to commit suicide than female inmates. Female
jail inmates were nearly twice as likely as males to die of
drug or alcohol intoxication (table 8).
Facility characteristics
*************************
* In 2011, 8 in 10 jails (81%) reported zero deaths to the
DCRP. From 2000 to 2011, an annual average of 82% of jails
reported zero deaths (table 9).
* About 20% of all jails reported one or more deaths in
2011. Among these jails, 67% reported a single death.
* Together, California, Florida, New York, and Texas
reported about a third of jail deaths in 2011. These states
also had the largest jail populations, comprising 31% of the
total jail population (table 10).
* About half of all jail jurisdictions in California,
Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia reported at least
one death in 2011 (table 13).
Moving averages
****************
* The heart disease mortality rate was generally higher in
the years prior to 2005 (appendix table 2).
* Among white inmates, the mortality rate for heart disease
was at least 40 deaths per 100,000 prior to 2007. After a
period of decline, the rate increased from 37 to 45 deaths
per 100,000 white inmates between 2010 and 2011.
* Overall, the mortality rate for heart disease among
inmates age 55 or older declined from 2003 to 2008, then
increased after 2009. The rate in 2010 (279 per 100,000) was
still lower than rates observed prior to 2006.
* The suicide rate increased in 2009 and 2010, after small
declines between 2002 and 2008 (appendix table 4).
* Between 2006 and 2008, male jail inmates committed suicide
at a rate that was about twice that of female jail inmates,
while the suicide rates for male and female jail inmates
were more similar in 2010.
* From 2000 to 2010, the suicide rate for white inmates was
at least 3 times higher than the rate for inmates of other
races or Hispanic origin.
***************************
Mortality in state prisons
***************************
Cause of death
***************
* The number of inmates who died in the custody of state
prisons increased 4%, from 3,232 deaths in 2010 to 3,353 in
2011 (table 14).
* In 2011, cancer was the most common cause of death in
prisons, followed by heart disease, liver disease,
respiratory disease, and AIDS-related deaths. As with
previous years, cancer and heart disease accounted for more
than half (56%) of all prison deaths in 2011 (table 15).
* The illness-related mortality rate among state prisoners
increased 4% in 2011. This increase was driven by the cancer
mortality rate, which increased 11% between 2010 (70 per
100,000) and 2011 (78 per 100,000) (table 16).
* In 2011, the cancer mortality rate in state prisons (78
per 100,000) exceeded the heart disease mortality rate (65
per 100,000) for the fourth consecutive year.
* The AIDS-related mortality rate among state prisoners
declined 22% from 2010 to 2011 and has declined 81% since
2001.
Decedent characteristics
*************************
* In 2011, male prisoners accounted for more than 96% of
prison deaths. The number of female inmates dying in state
prisons has been relatively stable at an annual average of
133 deaths each year between 2001 and 2011 (table 17).
* White prisoners accounted for about half of prison inmate
deaths in any single year between 2001 and 2010, and for 57%
of deaths in 2011. Black inmates accounted for about a third
of prisoner deaths in any single year between 2001 and 2011,
and for 31% of deaths in 2011 (table 18).
* Between 2001 and 2011, the female prisoner mortality rate
fluctuated from 127 to 172 deaths per 100,000 female
prisoners. In 2011, the male prisoner mortality rate was
1.6 times higher than the female prisoner mortality rate
(table 20).
Cause of death by decedent characteristics
*******************************************
* Mortality rates for cancer, heart disease, liver disease,
and accidents were about twice the rates for male prisoners
than for female prisoners (table 22).
* Between 2001 and 2011, black state prisoners (8 per
100,000) committed suicide at about a third of the rate of
white state prisoners (25 per 100,000).
* Among both natural and unnatural deaths, the age of
inmates was strongly associated with high mortality rates:
* Prisoners age 55 and older died of cancer, heart disease,
and respiratory disease at rates that were at least 5 times
higher than for any other age group.
* The homicide rate among prisoners age 55 or older was 2 to
3 times higher than for prisoners ages 18 to 44. The
accident-related mortality rate for prisoners age 55 or
older was at least 2.5 times higher than for younger
inmates.
Deaths by jurisdiction
***********************
* Between 2010 and 2011, more than a third (20 of 50) of
state departments of correction reported a decrease in the
number of deaths in state prisons (table 23).
* The mortality rate among federal prisoners decreased 2%,
from 224 deaths per 100,000 federal prisoners in 2010 to 220
deaths per 100,000 in 2011 (table 24).
Cause of death by state
************************
* The average annual mortality rate for state prisoners
between 2001 and 2011 varied by state from 152 deaths per
100,000 inmates in 2001 to 450 deaths per 100,000 inmates in
2011, with a median rate of 243 deaths per 100,000 inmates
(table 26).
* Mortality rates by cause of death may not be directly
comparable between states due to differences in age, sex,
race, geographic location, or any other characteristic of
the correctional popluation.
Moving averages
****************
* The cancer mortality rate increased for both male (up 22%)
and female (up 79%) prisoners from 2002 to 2010. The cancer
mortality rate for female prisoners showed the greatest
increase, from 26 deaths per 100,000 in 2002 to 47 deaths
per 100,000 in 2010 (appendix table 6).
* The cancer mortality rate for white and black prisoners
steadily increased from 2002 to 2010. The rate for white
prisoners increased 33%, and the rate for black prisoners
increased 24% during the period.
* The liver disease mortality rate for state prisoners
remained nearly unchanged from 2002 to 2010 (appendix table
8).
* From 2001 to 2011, black prisoners had the lowest liver
disease mortality rate (between 13 and 15 deaths per 100,000
inmates).
* Suicide rates among state prisoners were relatively stable
from 2002 to 2010. White inmates committed suicide at a
higher rate than prisoners of other races or Hispanic
origin. The suicide rate for white inmates was at least 1.3
times higher than the rate of Hispanic inmates and 3 times
higher than the suicide rate of black inmates (appendix
table 11).
*****************************************************
****************
List of tables
***************
Table 1
Number of local jail inmate deaths,
by cause of death, 2000–2011 7
Table 2
Percent of local jail inmate deaths,
by cause of death, 2000–2011 7
Table 3
Mortality rate per 100,000 local jail inmates,
by cause of death, 2000–2011 8
Table 4
Number of local jail inmate deaths,
by selected decedent characteristics, 2000–2011 9
Table 5
Percent of local jail inmate deaths,
by selected decedent characteristics, 2000–2011 10
Table 6
Mortality rate per 100,000 local jail inmates,
by selected decedent characteristics, 2000–2011 11
Table 7
Number of local jail inmate deaths,
by cause of death and selected decedent
characteristics, 2000–2011 12
Table 8
Average annual mortality rate per 100,000 local jail
inmates, by cause of death and selected decedent
characteristics, 2000–2011 13
Table 9
Number and percent of jail jurisdictions reporting
to the Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (DCRP),
by number of deaths reported each year, 2000–2011 14
Table 10
Number of jail deaths, by state, 2000–2011 15
Table 11
Mortality rate per 100,000 local jail inmates,
by state, 2000–2011 16
Table 12
Number of local jail inmates held on an average day,
by state, 2000–2011 17
Table 13
Percent of jail jurisdictions reporting one or
more deaths to the Deaths in Custody Reporting
Program (DCRP), by state, 2000–2011 18
Table 14
Number of state prisoner deaths,
by cause of death, 2001–2011 19
Table 15
Percent of state prisoner deaths,
by cause of death, 2001–2011 19
Table 16
Mortality rate per 100,000 state prisoners,
by cause of death, 2001–2011 20
Table 17
Number of state prisoner deaths,
by selected decedent characteristics, 2001–2011 20
Table 18
Percent of state prisoner deaths,
by selected decedent characteristics, 2001–2011 21
Table 19
Estimated number of state prisoners in custody,
by selected inmate characteristics, 2001–2011 21
Table 20
Mortality rate per 100,000 state prisoners,
by selected decedent characteristics, 2001–2011 22
Table 21
Number of state prisoner deaths,
by cause of death and selected decedent
characteristics, 2001–2011 22
Table 22
Average annual mortality rate per 100,000
state prisoners, by cause of death and
selected decedent characteristics, 2001–2011 23
Table 23
Number of state and federal prisoner deaths,
by location, 2001–2011 24
Table 24
Mortality rate per 100,000 state and federal
prisoners, by location, 2001–2011 25
Table 25
Number of state prisoner deaths,
by cause of death and location, 2001–2011 26
Table 26
Average mortality rate per 100,000 state
prisoners, by cause of death and
location, 2001–2011 27
*****************************************************
*****************************************************
*************************
List of appendix tables
*************************
Appendix table 1
Illness mortality rate per 100,000
local jail inmates, by selected decedent
characteristics, 2000–2011 33
Appendix table 2
Heart disease mortality rate per 100,000
local jail inmates, by selected decedent
characteristics, 2000–2011 34
Appendix table 3
All other illnesses mortality rate per 100,000
local jail inmates, by selected decedent
characteristics, 2000–2011 35
Appendix table 4
Suicide moving average mortality rate per 100,000
local jail inmates, by selected decedent
characteristics, 2000–2011 36
Appendix table 5
Illness mortality rate per 100,000 state
prison inmates, by selected decedent
characteristics, 2001–2011 37
Appendix table 6
Cancer mortality rate per 100,000 state
prison inmates, by selected decedent
characteristics, 2001–2011 37
Appendix table 7
Heart disease mortality rate per 100,000
state prison inmates, by selected decedent
characteristics, 2001–2011 38
Appendix table 8
Liver disease mortality rate per 100,000
state prison inmates, by selected decedent
characteristics, 2001–2011 38
Appendix table 9
Respiratory disease mortality rate per 100,000
state prison inmates, by selected decedent
characteristics, 2001–2011 39
Appendix table 10
All other illnesses mortality rate per 100,000
state prison inmates, by selected decedent
characteristics, 2001–2011 39
Appendix table 11
Suicide mortality rate per 100,000 state
prison inmates, by selected decedent
characteristics, 2001–2011 40
*****************************************************
************
Methodology
************
Data collection coverage
*************************
The Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (DCRP) is an annual
Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) data collection. The DCRP
collects national, state, and incident-level data on persons
who died while in the physical custody of the 50 state
departments of corrections or the approximately 2,800 local
adult jail jurisdictions nationwide. The DCRP began in 2000
under the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-
297), and it is the only national statistical collection to
obtain comprehensive information about deaths in adult
correctional facilities. BJS uses DCRP data to track
national trends in the number and causes (or manners) of
deaths occurring in state prison or local jail custody.
Mortality data measured by the DCRP include decedent
characteristics, such as sex, race and Hispanic origin, age,
date of admission, conviction status, admission offense, and
the location and type of facility (prison or jail) where the
inmate died. The DCRP also collects data about circumstances
surrounding the death, including the cause, time and
location where the death occurred, and information on
whether an autopsy was conducted and the availability of
results to the respondent. In cases of deaths due to
illness, the DCRP collects data on whether the decedent had
a preexisting medical condition for which he or she received
medical treatment prior to death. Data on executions are
excluded from this report but are accessible on the BJS
website along with the DCRP mortality data. Statistics
presented in this report are current as of March 1, 2013.
For more information on mortality in correctional settings,
see Mortality in Local Jails, 2000–2007, NCJ 222988, BJS
web, July 2010; Medical Causes of Death in State Prisons,
2001–2004, NCJ 216340, BJS web, January 2007; and Suicide
and Homicide in State Prisons and Local Jails, NCJ 210036,
BJS web, August 2005.
The DCRP data collection instruments are administered
annually to both state prisons and local jails. Respondents
provide an aggregate count of the number of deaths that
occurred during the referenced calendar year. State prison
respondents provide aggregate counts through the National
Prisoner Statistics data collection, and local jails provide
aggregate counts through the Annual Survey of Jails. The
jail (CJ-9) and prison (NPS-4A) survey instruments used to
obtain data on each prison and jail death are available on
the BJS website at www.bjs.gov.
In addition to the death count, BJS requests jails to
provide summary statistics about their population and
admissions. All jails, including those with no deaths to
report (which includes about 80% of jails in any given year)
are asked to complete the annual summary survey form. BJS
obtains a separate report describing the decedent’s
characteristics and the circumstances surrounding the death
for each death that occurred in a state prison or local
jail. State prison and local jail respondents can submit
individual records on decedents at any time during a
collection cycle through a BJS web-based collection system.
BJS has modified the survey instruments slightly over time,
including changes to clarify questions and ease the burden
on respondents. Several questions were added to capture
information on any medical treatment that the inmate
received prior to death. Changes also allowed respondents to
elaborate on cause of death by adding text boxes to the
intoxication, suicide, and inmate-involved homicide death
questions. Previously, these fields had only been available
for deaths due to illness, accident, homicides not caused by
other inmates, and other unspecified causes. In addition,
BJS clarified respondent instructions on the prison forms
and removed a question collecting the conviction status of
an inmate after an analysis showed that more than 99% of
prison inmates were convicted at the time of death. BJS also
streamlined the survey layout to simplify the progression
through questions related to autopsies. Rather than
initially submitting an incomplete instrument that indicated
pending autopsy results, respondents were only permitted to
complete the entire survey after autopsy results were
available. This change reduced follow-up contact and the
burden on respondents.
Starting in 2001 and annually thereafter, BJS has collected
DCRP data directly from state prison systems, maintaining a
100% response rate.
Nonresponse
*************
The jail universe includes all jails currently operating and
jails that have been contacted for the DCRP but have closed,
consolidated, or otherwise eliminated operations. This
universe allows BJS to determine jail participation in the
DCRP. The most recent jail universe, constructed in 2013,
identified 2,812 jurisdictions representing 3,247 jail
facilities. Of these, 2,747 (97.6%) participated in the
DCRP, a slight decrease from the 98% to 99% participation in
previous years.
The congressionally mandated Death in Custody Act expired at
yearend 2006. Starting in 2007, participation in DCRP became
voluntary. As a result, some jail juridictions no longer
report data to the program. Change in deaths over time may
be affected by this change in reporting.
A jail jurisdiction is a legal entity that has
responsibility for managing jail facilities. Jail
jurisdictions typically operate at the county level, in
which a sheriff’s office or jail administrator manages the
local facilities. The DCRP data identify the jail facility
in which a jail inmate dies, but the data are arrayed at the
jail jurisdiction level. BJS defines a jail as a locally
operated correctional facility that confines persons before
or after adjudication for more than 72 hours, excluding
temporary lockups. Typically, there is one facility per jail
jurisdiction, but the 2006 Census of Jail Facilities found
that 15% of jail jurisdictions had multiple facilities under
a central authority. (See the BJS website for more
information.)
Determining eligibility for reporting to the DCRP
**************************************************
In the DCRP, custody refers to the holding of an inmate in a
facility or to the period during which a correctional
authority maintains a chain of custody over an inmate. For
instance, if a jail transports an ill inmate to a hospital
for medical services and that inmate dies while in the chain
of custody of the jail, that death is counted as a death in
custody. A death that occurs when an inmate is not in the
custody of a correctional authority is considered beyond the
scope of the DCRP. Out-of-scope deaths include inmates on
escape status or under the supervision of community
corrections on probation, parole, or home-electronic
monitoring. BJS instructs both state prison and local jail
officials to determine whether the inmate was in the
physical custody of the jurisdiction at the time of death,
regardless of the reason an inmate was being held. For state
prisons responding to the survey, inmates in physical
custody include those held in any private prison facility
under contract to the responding state’s department of
corrections or in any of their state-operated facilities,
including halfway houses, prison camps or farms, training or
treatment centers, and prison hospitals.
BJS instructs state prison officials to exclude deaths of
inmates who were transferred to local jails while still
serving a prison term because the DCRP obtains information
about such deaths through the jail reports. Jail inmate
custody includes inmates who are temporarily out of the jail
facility but are within the chain of custody of the jail.
For example, a death in custody would include a jail inmate
who died after being transferred to an offsite facility that
cares for critically ill persons. Between 2000 and 2011, the
DCRP data have shown that more than a third (41%) of jail
inmate deaths occurred in medical facilities outside of the
jail facility.
Custody is further complicated by the dual law enforcement
and jail administration functions of some sheriffs’ offices.
As a result, some deaths reported as jail deaths actually
occurred before the jail had custody of the decedent. BJS
identifies and excludes from the DCRP these deaths that
occurred in the process of arrest by using information about
the circumstances surrounding the death.
Cause-of-death information
***************************
The instructions for completing the DCRP tell respondents to
report death information as determined by an autopsy or
other official medical death investigation. For this
collection, intoxication deaths, accidents, suicides, and
homicides are considered discrete causes of death. Although
there is a distinction between manner and cause of death
from a medico-legal standpoint, no such distinction is made
in the DCRP. When reporting a death due to illness,
accident, suicide, intoxication, or homicide, BJS requests
that respondents describe the events surrounding these
deaths.
Homicides include all types of intentional homicide and
involuntary manslaughter as ruled by a medical examiner or
pathologist at autopsy. For example, an inmate may die of
positional asphyxia (suffocation caused by the position of
the inmate’s body) while the inmate is being removed from a
cell. A legal-intervention homicide committed while the
inmate is trying to escape would also be included. In
addition, homicides include cases that are ruled a homicide
at autopsy when events that led to the death occurred prior
to incarceration. For example, an inmate who was shot in the
community years prior to incarceration died from
complications of the gunshot wound while incarcerated.
Clinical data specialists convert illness-related death text
entries into standard medical codes according to the World
Health Organization’s International Statistical
Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems,
Tenth Revision (ICD-10).
Other BJS sources of correctional mortality data
*************************************************
BJS collects other data reported to the DCRP on correctional
mortality and deaths that occur in the process of arrest.
These other collections include--
* Capital Punishment, which provides data on legal
executions. Further discussion on executions is available on
the BJS website.
* The National Prisoner Statistics (NPS), which annually
collected aggregate counts of deaths in state and federal
prisons prior to the establishment of the DCRP. Prior to
2007, the NPS also collected counts of deaths by cause of
death, including deaths due to execution, illness, AIDS,
suicide, accident, homicide, and other causes. After 2006,
the Federal Bureau of Prisons continued to submit the counts
of deaths by cause of death using the DCRP, but no longer
provided counts of deaths using the NPS. Further discussion
of the NPS is available on the BJS website.
* The Census of Jails, conducted every 5 to 6 years,
provides counts of inmate deaths in local jails. Further
discussion of the Census of Jail Inmates is available on the
BJS website.
* The Survey of Jails in Indian Country (SJIC), which
provides aggregate counts of the number of deaths occurring
in all known Indian country correctional facilities operated
by tribal authorities or the U.S. Department of the
Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. Further discussion of
the SJIC is available on the BJS website.
* Arrest-Related Deaths (ARD), which obtains data on deaths
that occurred during the process of arrest. State-level
respondents provide details of deaths that occurred during
arrest. Further discussion of ARD is available on the BJS
website.
Reported statistics
********************
Mortality data are shown in statistical tables by type of
correctional institution (state prisons and local jails) and
include the number of deaths and mortality rates by year,
cause of death, selected decedent characteristics, and
state.
Mortality rates are calculated per 100,000 inmates, with the
denominators providing estimates of the number of person-
years of exposure in custody in institutional corrections.
Until 2010, the mortality rate for state prisons was
calculated as the number of deaths per year divided by the
midyear state prison population in custody multiplied by
100,000. Starting in 2011, the rate was calculated using
yearend custody counts because midyear populations were no
longer available. Custody counts for state prisons provide
estimates of person-years for prison populations. BJS uses
data from the NPS to provide midyear and yearend custody
counts of prisoners. For more information on the NPS, see
the BJS website.
The mortality rate in local jails is calculated as the
number of deaths per year divided by the average daily jail
inmate population (ADP) multiplied by 100,000. The ADP for
local jails is defined as the average daily number of jail
inmates held in a jail jurisdiction during a calendar year,
from January 1 through December 31.
The ADP is used as the denominator for jail mortality rates
to accommodate the high turnover and daily fluctuation in
local jail populations. Also, the ADP better reflects the
number of inmate days per year than a 1-day count. Jail
populations have a higher turnover than prison populations;
mean stay in local jails is about 21 days, compared to 2
years for state prisons.
The jail ADP also reflects the annual number of admissions
and mean length of stay, and can be expressed as the product
of these two values. When mean length of stay is expressed
in years, the ADP is equivalent to the number of person-
years spent by jail inmates during a given year. BJS obtains
the jail ADP data directly from jails through the DCRP using
the summary form CJ-9A. Starting in 2002, BJS collected the
ADP directly from respondents. Prior to 2002, BJS calculated
the jail ADP by taking the average of the January 1 count
from the prior year and the December 31 count from the
reference year, which is an appropriate proxy measure for
ADP.
Both denominators provide for annualizing mortality rates,
which are calculated separately by group or by
characteristic. The annualized mortality rates in state
prisons and local jails are comparable to annual crude
mortality rates reported by the National Center for Health
Statistics (NCHS).
The NCHS calculates crude mortality rates as the number of
events for a period (e.g., a year) divided by the population
estimate at the midpoint of the period. For general
population mortality statistics, the NCHS employs the
midyear population as an approximation to the average
population exposed to risk of death during any given year.
For more information, see Siegal, J. & Swanson, D. (2004).
The Methods and Materials of Demography, Second Edition. San
Diego, CA: Elsevier Academic Press, 269.
The crude mortality rates reported in the DCRP annual
statistical tables are not directly comparable to the crude
mortality rates within the (nonincarcerated) general
population, and the crude mortality rates in state prisons
are not directly comparable to those of local jails. The
composition of the general population (sex, race, and age)
differs from the population in state prisons and local
jails. Because mortality is correlated with sex, race, and
age, the crude mortality rates in state prisons, local
jails, and the general population should not be compared.
Individual inmate death records collected annually in the
death file are included in the national death count.
Independent jail-specific summary death counts are collected
on the annual summary form (CJ-9A) and serve as control
death totals. If the death count in the summary form file is
greater than the count in the individual inmate death file,
the summary file count is used as the total in calculating a
jail mortality rate. For 2011, individual records for jail
inmate deaths were adjusted to match independent counts of
deaths occurring in each jail, and the mortality rates were
adjusted accordingly.
Estimating inmate population Characteristics
to calculate mortality rates by demographic
subgroups
*********************************************
BJS does not obtain annual data for all demographic
characteristics of prison and jail inmates in all
jurisdictions. BJS uses data from sources other than the
DCRP to estimate the nationwide sex, race, and age
composition of state prison and local jail inmate
populations. These data sources consist primarily of
periodic surveys of inmates in custody in prisons and jails.
The inmate characteristic distributions obtained from these
surveys are applied to denominators (counts of inmates or
ADP) to estimate the number of inmates in each demographic
subgroup.
BJS estimated the demographic distribution of the state
prison population data from the NPS and National Corrections
Reporting Program (NCRP) collections. For a discussion on
the methodology for obtaining estimates of the sex, race,
and age distributions of state prisoners, see Prisoners in
2011, NCJ 239808, BJS web, December 2012.
Prior to using the NPS and NCRP to estimate demographic
distributions, reports of mortality rates for state prison
inmates used demographic distributions derived from BJS’s
2004 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional
Facilities (SISCF). As a result, state prison mortality
rates shown in these tables may differ from previously
published rates. A rate comparison between the two sources
showed very little difference in the resultant mortality
rates. In most instances, the rates either matched or nearly
matched. The rates differed in only three instances:
Hispanic in 2001, and females and inmates age 55 or older in
2002. In each instance, the rates calculated using
population data from the NCRP and NPS were slightly higher
(less than a 1% increase) than rates calculated using
population data from the SISCF.
To estimate the distributions of demographic attributes of
the ADP for inmates, BJS used data from several surveys to
generate distributions of sex, race, and age, and applied
these distributions to the ADP. BJS’s Annual Survey of Jails
(ASJ) provided estimates of the sex distribution of inmates
for each year of the DCRP collection and applied these to
each year’s ADP from the DCRP to estimate the ADP of male
and female jail inmates. Jail Inmates at Midyear 2010 –
Statistical Tables (NCJ 233431, BJS web, April 2011)
documents that the distributions of inmate characteristics
have changed slowly over time. For the most recent
information on the ASJ, see the BJS website.
To estimate the racial and ethnic distribution of adult jail
inmates, BJS used data from the Survey of Inmates in Local
Jails (SILJ) and the National Inmate Survey (NIS) to
estimate the relative distribution of adults by race and
Hispanic origin for different periods. Because the SILJ
(2002) and the NIS (2007 to 2009) are not fielded annually,
the population estimates were smoothed before being applied
to DCRP data. BJS used the SILJ estimates to cover the
period from 2000 to 2004 and the NIS estimates to cover the
period from 2005 to 2011. In both cases, the percentages
associated with the distribution of race and Hispanic origin
were applied to the adult jail ADP.
BJS did not annually collect data on the age distribution of
jail populations. Rather, BJS obtained estimates of the age
distribution of jail inmates from periodic surveys of jail
inmates, including the SILJ in 2002 and the NIS from 2007 to
2009, which are available on the BJS website. For more
information about jail inmates in 2002, see Profile of Jail
Inmates, 2002, NCJ 201932, BJS web, July 2004.
To estimate the age distribution of the jail inmate
population, BJS first obtained an estimate of the number of
jail inmates age 17 or younger from the ASJ. According to
table 6 in Jail Inmates at Midyear 2011 - Statistical Tables
(NCJ 237961, BJS web, April 2012) from 2000 through 2011,
the annual number of jail inmates age 17 or younger ranged
from 5,900 to 7,600 inmates. By applying the annual
percentage of jail inmates age 17 or younger to the annual
average daily jail inmate population, BJS obtained an
estimate of the ADP of jail inmates age 17 or younger.
To estimate the age distribution of adult jail inmates, BJS
used data from the SILJ for 2000 to 2006 and the NIS for
2007 to 2011 to estimate the relative distribution of adults
by age category for different periods. The age estimates
were smoothed to account for gaps in reference years when
age estimates were available, specifically for 2003, 2006,
2010, and 2011.
Moving averages
****************
Moving averages were used to smooth short term
irregularities and to estimate long term trends. For
instance, moving averages were computed to examine data
trends for certain causes of death in jails and prisons
while smoothing out short-term fluctuations. The data were
cut into several 3-year overlapping periods spanning all 11
years of prison data and 12 years of jail data.
The moving averages in this report describe some changes in
cause-specific mortality rates over time (e.g., whether the
decline in the AIDS-related mortality rate was steady, or
whether the increase of suicides in jails was recent).
Moving averages were not computed for all causes of death in
custody, because the resultant rates would have been
unstable and therefore statistically meaningless due to
small cell sizes.
Random error and suppression
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The DCRP data on deaths in state prisons and local jails are
not subject to sampling error. However, mortality data from
a complete or near-complete enumeration may be subject to
random error. Following the methodology of Brillinger and
NCHS, “the number of deaths that actually occurred may be
considered as one of a large series of possible results that
could have arisen under the same set of circumstances”
(NCHS, 2007). The random variation can be large when the
number of deaths is small, so caution is warranted when
interpreting statistics based on small numbers of deaths.
According to NCHS standards, mortality rates based on fewer
than 100 deaths per year should be interpreted with caution.
For more information on vital rates, see Brillinger, D.R.
(1986). The natural variability of vital rates and
associated statistics. Biometrics 42:693-734. See also
National Vital Statistics Reports. Deaths: Final Data for
2007, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National
Center for Health Statistics. Retrieved from
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr58/nvsr58_19.pdf.
Continuing to use the NCHS and Brillinger methods, BJS
quantified random variation by assuming that the appropriate
underlying probability distribution for the number of deaths
is a Poisson distribution. This provides for a
computationally simple, as well as reasonable, approach to
estimating variances for mortality statistics when the
probability of dying is low. BJS calculated variances based
on the assumption of a Poisson process. From these
variances, BJS calculated relative random error estimates,
which are comparable to relative standard error in that the
relative random error is the ratio of random error derived
from the Poisson variance to the number of deaths. Following
NCHS, when the relative random error exceeded 30 percent,
BJS flagged estimated mortality rates due to the instability
of the rate.
Survey performance issues
**************************
Survey administration and modifications to the survey form
generated data from 2007 to 2009 that may not be wholly
compatible with prior DCRP data. In 2012, BJS identified a
previously undetected data error that mischaracterized over
600 illness-related deaths as illness-related deaths missing
detailed cause-of-death information, leading to an inflated
frequency of prison deaths in reference year 2007 being
characterized as all other illnesses while simultaneously
depressing frequencies of known illnesses (e.g., heart
disease, cancer, or liver disease). The error was identified
and resolved, correcting the distributions. In 2008, local
jail officials were unable to provide causes of death for
21.4% of jail inmate deaths. During 2009, BJS made
modifications to the collection instruments to improve
reporting and reduce burden.
* Item nonresponse in 2008 jail data and unknown cause of
death: An abnormally large number of cases were missing a
response for cause of death in the 2008 jail file (n=203;
21.4% of all jail deaths in 2008). This coincided with the
final year the U.S. Census Bureau acted as the data
collection agent for the DCRP. In prior years of the DCRP
jail data collection, an average of 6% of all causes of
death were classified as other or unknown. For this report,
BJS categorized all of these 203 jail deaths from 2008 as
missing data about cause of death.
* 2009 data collection: Prior to fielding the 2009 DCRP
collection, BJS reviewed the data collection instrument and
data submission procedures and assessed the communications
with DCRP respondents with the goal of reducing the burden
on respondents. The survey was modified to facilitate
navigation and to encourage online response. The
modifications led to delays in implementing data collection.
As a result, death reports were not collected in the year
the deaths occurred, but were instead collected
retrospectively during 2010 for the first time. Data
collection for subsequent years resumed on a normal
schedule.
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The Bureau of Justice Statistics, located in the Office
of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, collects,
analyses, and disseminates statistical information on crime,
criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation
of justice systems at all levels of government. William J.
Sabol is acting director.
Margaret E. Noonan and RTI analyzed the data; the report
was prepared by Margaret E. Noonan. E. Ann Carson verified
the report.
Kim Aspinwall carried out data collection and processing
with assistance from Sarah Love, under the supervision of
Chris Ellis, RTI International. Scott Ginder provided
statistical assistance, and Todd Heinrich provided technical
assistance.
Vanessa Curto, Irene Cooperman from Lockheed Martin, and
Jill Thomas edited the report, and Barbara Quinn and
Tina Dorsey produced the report, under the supervision of
Doris J. James.
August 2013, NCJ 242186
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Office of Justice Programs
Innovation * Partnerships * Safer Neighborhoods
www.ojp.usdoj.gov
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7/30/13/JER/10:00am